Appearances in video games

Diddy Kong Racing

The player can race Taj, who races on his magic carpet, three different times. He or she rides in a different vehicle for each race: first a car, then a hovercraft, and lastly a plane. The player wins three Golden Balloon for winning each respective race, along with regular races. The player can also approach Taj to change his or her vehicle.

After Wizpig is defeated in Future Fun Land, a carved mountain head of him in the hub area of Timber's Island is replaced by a golden Taj head.

Diddy Kong Racing DS

Taj reappears in Diddy Kong Racing DS and again helps Diddy and his friends banish Wizpig from Timber's Island. In this game, Taj is an unlockable playable character, and is unlocked once the player completes "Adventure One". Taj has maximum top speed, low acceleration and poor handling. He shares these stats with Wizpig. Both are the fastest racers in the game.

Unlike Diddy Kong Racing, if the player asks Taj for help, he only offers help with one thing per encounter. In the Nintendo 64 counterpart, Taj changes the player's vehicle until he or she is satisfied. He also has a British accent in lieu of his original Indian accent, has a tent in the main part of Timber's Island, and hosts the new "Wishes Menu". Taj speaks less often in this version. The player is first challenged on a plane and then a hovercraft, contrariwise to the Nintendo 64 version.

Taj gives the player two more challenges in this version: one where he or she has to extinguish all of the Island's torches in a hovercraft and another where Taj and the player (in a plane) compete on collecting ten coins first.

If the player plays as Taj and talks to the NPC Taj, he gets confused and claims, "I'm talking to myself!" He then offers assistance to the player.

Donkey Kong Racing (cancelled)

Taj on a small, red Rambi.

Taj appears three times in the E3 2001 trailer for Donkey Kong Racing; he was likely planned as a playable character. He is first seen riding on a small, red Rambi at the beginning of the trailer. Afterward, he and DK briefly race on Zingers in a forest, and the end of the trailer, he sits on a Zinger and flies past the game's possible slogan, "LET'S RIDE".

Trivia

An unused music file in the data for Diddy Kong Racing features the player select theme played on Indian instruments. This could mean that Taj was originally to be a playable character at first, but the idea was eventually scrapped.